despite the protests of thousands of people, michigan's governor rick snyder signed into law a right-to-work statute. >> critics say it weakens unions by taking away the requirement of union dues. that's pretty significant, because the state of michigan is one of the birthplaces of modern labor rights. >> reporter: michigan's republican controlled state legislature approved two controversial right-to-work bills, all the while pro union protesters crowded the capital. >> wages will go down. benefits will go down. it's going to hurt small business, local business. it's just going to hurt michigan. >> reporter: at issue is right to work. it allowed people to opt out of joining the union at the workplace. the governor has flip-flopped, saying it was labor and democrats who hit first, trying to pass prop 2 in november. voters turned it down. >> made the point to him to say if you go forward with this, you're going to create an environment involving labor issues that this could rise to the level where i might not be able to keep it off the agenda and that's what happened. >> reporter: democrats an